every minute feeling more and more fagged, and
when at last darkness set in, was almost inclined to give up.

"My yellow friend followed me for some time at a respectful distance;
and though the dingo is a sneaking coward, still, had sleep
overpowered me, he might have been tempted to try how I tasted, as he
must have been hungry to come so close to me as he did. So, although I
never had any fear of such an event actually occurring, I was not at
all sorry when he trotted off, his tail, as usual, between his legs,
to join some of his companions, whose unearthly howls he heard at no
great distance; there must have been five or six.

"I felt really glad they came no nearer, as a mob of them are very
daring; and I have known them, when well starved for a week or two,
kill calves, and even colts, when the mothers were weak and could not
fight for them. But it was not very long before I found that they were
not after me, as I nearly stumbled against a mare and colt belonging
to myself, that were standing under a tree, and whinnied as I spoke.
We had sent all our horses away two months ago but this one, as she
could not be found, and we thought she was dead. The poor thing could
not have tasted food for days; but what could I do but pity the pair,
and feel that their end was to be food for the _warregals_ (native
dogs).

"As I had now been walking seven or eight hours, and hard at it all
the time, I could see nothing for it but to yield to necessity, as
sleep was fast overpowering me, when I distinctly heard the bark of a
dog, which I felt confident was my old watch, 'Jack.' My spirits rose
at once, and again I was alive, and pushed in the direction of the
welcome sound.

"At the same time I caught a glimpse of a cluster of trees, whose
peculiar shape I had often remarked, which told me where I was; and
this fact was also quickly proved by my plunging into an old
prospecting hole--the only one in the neighborhood. It was about six
feet deep, and full of snow and water. I thought I was lost, as the
frozen slush went down my back, and that I, who had been picked out of
the Canton River, in a dark night, when the tide ran six knots an
hour, was fated to be drowned in a filthy pot-hole.

"But, luckily, such was not my lot on the present occasion, as, after
many a failure, I managed to pull myself out, my boots full of water,
and my whole body nearly numb from the cold. Luckily, the house was
only half a mile off.

"I reac